Books: The Rover Boys out West
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Arthur M. Winfield >> The Rover Boys out West
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"No -- but -- but -- last night I heard a strange noise on our side
porch, as if somebody was trying the side window. I went to the
door and asked to know who was there. At once I heard somebody or
some animal leave the porch and climb over the side fence of the
garden. I am almost certain it was some person trying to get into
the house."
"Did you tell your mother?"
"No, she had one of her nervous headaches, and I thought it would
do no good. But I couldn't sleep all night, and I laid with a big
stick in one hand and papa's old revolver in the other. The
revolver wasn't loaded, but I thought I might scare somebody with
it."
"The revolver ought to be loaded, Dora. Do you know what caliber
it is?"
"No; you know I know little or nothing about firearms."
"Then I'll find out for you, and get some cartridges. If Josiah
Crabtree is around you ought to shoot him on the spot."
"Oh, I couldn't do that -- even though I do know how dreadfully he
treated you while you were in the heart of Africa."
"You must be very careful of your movements, especially after dark.
Crabtree may be around, with some new scheme against you or your
mother. I wish he could have been left behind in Africa."
"Oh, so do I! but he and Dan Baxter both came back to America,
didn't they?"
"So we heard in Boma. But don't get worked up too much, Dora, for
it might have been only a cat, -- or a common tramp looking for
something to eat. We have had lots of tramps around the Hall
lately."
"I have asked Grace Laning to pay us a visit, and she is coming
over to-morrow."
"Then you will have somebody in the house besides your mother and
yourself. I wish I could stay with you folks."
"How long are you going to remain at the Hall, Dick? When you came
back you said something about going out West with your father to
look up that mining claim in Colorado."
"We shan't start for the West until next spring. Father was going
right away at first, but after he found out that Arnold Baxter was
safe in jail and couldn't bother him any more, he concluded to
remain with Uncle Randolph and Aunt Martha until next spring so as
to give himself the chance to get back his old-time strength. His
sufferings in Africa pulled him down a good bit."
"I suppose. Well, I am glad you will be around during the winter.
Next summer mamma has promised to go with me on a trip to Buffalo
and then around the Great Lakes. I trust the lake air will do her
much good, and that we won't hear or see anything of Mr. Crabtree
while we are on the water."
"I'd like to go with you on that trip," answered Dick. "I have no
doubt you will have a grand time."
Little did he dream of all the perils that trip was to lead to, and
of how he and his brothers would be mixed up in them.
In the meantime the others had journeyed up the hill to where the
road branched off in three directions. At this point Joel Darwell
pointed out two newly-made holes in the earth, about fifteen feet
apart.
"See them?" he cried. "Well, that is where I placed the danger
sign, and I am willing to swear to it."
"And so am I," added the workman who was along.
"Well, there is no danger signal here now," returned Tom, glancing
around. Some bushes torn up beside the road attracted his
attention, and he hurried toward them. "Here you are!"
He pointed to a cleared spot behind the bushes and there, on the
ground, lay the torn-up posts and boards. Evidently somebody had
dragged them thither in great haste.
"It's the work of some thorough rascal!" cried Sam. "Somebody who
meant mischief to our stage."
"Maype dis vos der vork of dem Pornell Academy fellers," suggested
Hans.
"No, they are gentlemen, not scoundrels," replied Tom. "They may
feel cut up, but they wouldn't play such a dastardly trick as
this."
The spot was one commanding a good view of the back road, so that
anybody standing there could have seen the stage coming while it
was still a quarter of a mile off.
All hands began a search for some clew leading to the identity of
the evil-doers--that is, all but Joel Darwell and his helper.
These two dragged the posts and boards into position again, and
this time set them down so firmly that a removal would be out of
the question without tools.
"Hullo, here's something!" cried one of the cadets presently. "Did
you just drop this, Tom?"
As he spoke he held up a round, flat coin of coppery metal,
engraved with several circles and a rude head.
"No, I didn't drop it," replied Tom, his face growing serious.
"Did you, Sam?"
Sam gave a look, placed his hand in his pocket and brought out a
similar piece. "No, there is mine," he said. "Where in the world
did that come from?"
Then Tom and Sam looked at each other. The same idea crossed the
mind of each. The coin was similar to those they had handled while
on their way through Africa. They had brought home several as
pocket-pieces.
"I'll wager Dan Baxter dropped that!" cried Tom. "He, or --"
"Josiah Crabtree!" finished Sam. "Yes, I am sure of it, for Dick
brought none to Putnam Hall; I heard him tell the Captain so, when
they were talking about coins one day."
"Then in that case, either Baxter or Crabtree is responsible for
this smash-up!" came from one of the other cadets.
"Right you are. The question is, which one?"
"Perhaps both vos guilty," suggested the German student.
"That may be true, Hans," came from Tom. "I wonder if one or the
other of the rascals is in hiding around here?"
"We'll begin a search," said Sam. "Hans, go and call the others,"
and at once the German cadet started off on his errand.
CHAPTER IV
A TRAIL IS FOUND AND LOST
By this time several carriages had come up, also a number of folks
on bicycles and on foot, and to all of these the situation had to
be explained. Among the last to put in an appearance was Captain
Putnam, and he was at once all attention, and desired to know how
seriously Dick and Frank were injured.
"It was an outrageous piece of work," he said.
"Still, to be fair, we must admit that the broken brake is largely
responsible for what happened, after the start down hill was made."
"But I couldn't help the brake breaking," pleaded the general
utility man. "I did my best, and was thrown out --"
"I am not finding fault with you, Snugger," cut in the captain,
shortly. "Let it pass, and leave the stage to be taken care of by
the Cedarville blacksmith. But I wish we might lay hands on the
rascal who is responsible for the start of the mishap."
"They have found a coin such as we used when as we were in Africa,"
said Dick. "I think that furnishes a clew."
"In what way, Rover?"
"Those coins were also used by Dan Baxter and Josiah Crabtree."
"And you think one or the other, or both, are in this neighborhood
again?"
"It looks plausible, doesn't it?"
"Yes, but -- it would be very strange. I should think they would
give this locality a wide berth."
"Hardly. Josiah Crabtree isn't done with the Stanhopes, to my
mind, and Baxter will get square with us if he can."
While this talk was going on Sam and Tom were following some
footprints leading from the clearing where the signal board had
been found down a small path toward the lake. The footprints were
clearly defined.
"The prints are not very large," observed Tom, as he and his
brother measured them. "It looks to me as if Dan Baxter's feet
might have made them."
"Certainly they weren't made by old Crabtree," said Sam. "He had a
very long foot and always wore square-toed boots."
They followed the prints down to the lake shore, and then along the
rim of the lake for nearly half a mile.
Here there was a little cove, and under some bushes they discovered
some marks in the wet dirt of the bank, as if a rowboat had been
moored there. In this dirt the footprints came to an end.
"That's the wind-up of this trail," sighed Tom. "Water leaves no
trail."
"That's so. But supposing we skirt the lake some more."
They went on, and did not give up until the declining sun told them
the day was done.
When they reached the Hall they found that all of the others had
come in, and that preparations were already going forward for the
feast in the evening. For once Captain Putnam and George Strong,
his main assistant, were going to allow the cadets to have their
own way. Secretly the captain was tremendously pleased over the
showing his pupils had made on the football field, for this
happened to be a year when college athletics were in the ascendancy
in all of the States.
But the regular evening drill must not be neglected, and soon the
sound of the drum was heard, calling the members of companies A and
B to the parade ground. A rush was made for uniforms, swords, and
guns, and soon the boys come pouring forth, Dick as a captain, and
his two brothers as under officers.
"Attention!" shouted the major of the command. "Forward! march!"
"Boom! boom! boom, boom, boom!" went the drums, and then the fifers
struck up a lively tune, and around the academy marched the two
companies at company front. Then they went around again by column
of fours, and then marched into the messroom, where they stacked
arms and sat down at the long mess tables. The movements were
patterned after those at West Point, and could not have been
improved upon.
"Well, what of the hunt," asked Dick, as soon as he got the chance
to talk to Tom.
"We followed it to the lake and then lost the trail," answered his
brother. "But I am convinced that the rascal was Dan Baxter."
"I believe you are right, Tom," answered Dick, and related what
Dora Stanhope had told him. Of course Tom listened with keen
interest.
"We made a mistake in letting old Crabtree and Baxter go when we
had them in Africa. We should have handed them over to the
authorities."
"I am not worried about Baxter so much," went on Dick. "But I hate
to think of Crabtree being around to molest the Stanhopes."
"And especially Dora," grinned Tom.
"Right you are, Tom, and I am not ashamed to admit it to you. But
please don't -- don't well, make fun of it to me any more."
"I won't, Dick." Tom gave his brother's hand a squeeze under the
table. "Dora is all right, and if some day I get her for a
sister-in-law I won't complain a bit." This plain talk made Dick's
face flush, but he felt tremendously pleased, nevertheless, and
loved Tom more than ever.
Directly after supper the boys were given until eleven o'clock to
do as they pleased. At once some old barrels were piled high at
one end of the campus, smeared with tar, stuffed with wood, and set
on fire, and the blaze, mounting to the sky, lit up the
neighborhood to the lake on one side and the mountains on the
other.
Four cadets had gone down to Cedarville to buy the fireworks and
the things to eat, and by nine o'clock these returned, loaded down
with their purchases. Among the crowd was Larry Colby, who sought
out Dick as soon as he arrived.
"I've got news," he exclaimed. "Whom do you suppose I saw down in
Cedarville? Josiah Crabtree!"
"You are certain, Larry?"
"Yes."
"Where did you meet him?"
"Down at the restaurant where he went for some ice cream. He was
just paying for a lunch he had had when I came in."
"Did you speak to him?"
"No; I wanted to do so, but as soon as he saw our crowd coming in
he dusted out of a side door."
"Was he alone?"
"Yes."
"Humph!" Dick's brow clouded. He was inclined to think that Dora
had been right concerning the noise she had heard on the side
porch.
"You haven't any idea where he went?"
"No; I wanted to follow him, but it was dark on the street and he
slipped me."
This was all Larry had to tell, and he hurried to arrange the
fireworks.
The celebration was a grand success, and lasted until almost
midnight. The boys had brought along a lot of Roman candles and
skyrockets, and these they set off from the top of one of the
tallest trees on the grounds.
"So that the Pornell fellows can see them," said Sam. "I know they
will enjoy the show," and then he closed one eye suggestively. The
Pornell players had chaffed him on account of his size, and now
that the victory was won, he did not mean to let them forget their
defeat too quickly.
At about ten o'clock Dick went to Captain Putnam and asked
permission to leave the grounds for an hour or two.
"Where do you wish to go?" asked the captain.
"To Mrs. Stanhope's, sir," and be related what Dora bad told him,
and of what news Larry Colby had brought.
"I am afraid you may get into trouble, Rover," said the captain
seriously.
"I will be very careful, sir. I am not afraid of Mr. Crabtree,
should he turn up."
"I don't believe you are afraid of anyone," said the master with a
smile, for he admired Dick's courage.
"Then you will let me go?"
"Wouldn't you rather have somebody with you?"
"I wouldn't mind having Tom along."
"I meant some grown person -- like, for instance, Mr. Strong."
"No, sir."
"Well, then, take Tom. But mind and be careful, and don't stay too
late if everything is right, down there."
Having received this permission, Dick hurried to Tom. Soon the two
brothers were on the way, Tom eating some cake and peanuts as they
hurried along. The latter hated to miss the feast, but did not
wish to see his brother under take the mission alone.
It was a clear night, and although there was no moon, the stars
twinkled overhead like so many diamonds. Both knew the short cut
to Mrs. Stanhope's cottage well, and made rapid progress. "Shall
you ring the bell if everything appears to be right?" asked Tom, as
they came in sight of the modest dwelling, set in the widow's
well-kept garden.
"I guess not, Tom. It's so late. Both Mrs. Stanhope and Dora have
probably gone to bed."
They had almost reached the gate to the garden when Dick caught his
brother by the sleeve and drew him back into the shadow of a large
maple tree.
"What is it, Dick?"
"I think I saw somebody moving around the corner of the house just
now."
Both boys strained their eyes, but could see nothing that resembled
a human form.
"I don't see a thing, Dick."
"Come, we'll move around to the outside of the garden," returned
the older brother.
The flower garden was not large, and was separated from the
vegetable laths. As they made their way along this, both caught
the sound of a window sliding up.
"Hark! Did you hear that?" whispered Dick excitedly.
"I did. It came from the back of the house."
"Somebody must be trying to get into the kitchen window!"
Dick broke into a run, with Tom at his heels. Entering the garden
by a rear gate, they soon reached the vicinity of the kitchen. A
window stood wide open, and through this they beheld somebody
inside the apartment with a blazing match in his hand trying to
light a candle.
"Hi, there, who are you?" cried Tom, before Dick could stop him.
At the sound of the call the man in the kitchen jumped as though
stung by a bee. Then he wheeled around, with the lighted candle in
his hand, and both boys saw that it was Josiah Crabtree.
CHAPTER V
A STRUGGLE IN THE DARK
"Crabtree, you rascal!" ejaculated Dick.
"Who -- who is that?" spluttered the former teacher of Putnam Hall,
in dismay.
"It is I -- Dick Rover. What are you doing here?"
"I -- I came to call upon the Widow Stanhope," stammered Josiah
Crabtree. He was so astonished he knew not what to say.
"You came to rob her, more likely," sneered Tom. "You just broke
in at the window."
"No, no -- it -- it is all a mistake, Rover. I -- I am stopping here
for the night."
"Indeed!" gasped Dick, almost struck dumb over the man's show of
"nerve," as he afterward expressed it.
"Yes, I am stopping here."
"With Mrs. Stanhope's permission of course."
"Certainly. How could I stop here otherwise?"
"What are you doing in the kitchen all alone?'"
"Why, I -- er -- I was up in my room, but I -- er -- wanted a glass
of water and so came down for it."
"Then Mrs. Stanhope and Dora have gone to bed?"
"Yes, they just retired."
"Have you become friends again?" asked Dick, just to learn what
Josiah Crabtree might say.
"Yes, Rover, Mrs. Stanhope is once more my best friend."
"Then she doesn't know what a rascal you were out in Africa."
"My dear Richard, you are laboring under a great delusion. I was
never in Africa in my life."
"What!" roared Dick aghast at the man's audacity.
"I speak the truth. I have made an investigation, and have learned
that somebody went to Africa under my name, just to take advantage
of my -- ahem -- of my exalted rank as a professor."
"Great Scott! how you can draw the long bow!" murmured Tom.
"I speak the plain truth. I can prove that for the past six months
I have been in Chicago and other portions of the West.
"Well, if you are a guest here, just stay with Tom while I call the
Stanhopes," said Dick, and leaped in at the window.
"Boy, you shall do nothing of the kind," cried Josiah Crabtree, his
manner changing instantly.
"Why not? If you are friends, it will do no harm."
"Mrs. Stanhope is -- er -- is not feeling well, and I will not have her
disturbed by a headstrong youth like you."
"We'll see about that. If you --"
Dick broke off short, for just then a voice he knew well floated
down into the kitchen from upstairs.
"Who is talking down there? Is that you, Dick?" It was Dora
speaking, in a voice full of excitement.
"Yes, Dora, it is I -- and Tom. We have caught Josiah Crabtree here
in your kitchen."
"Oh!" The girl gave a little scream. "What a villain! Can you
hold him?"
"We can try," answered Dick. He turned to Crabtree. "I reckon
your game is up, old man."
"Let me go!" growled the former teacher fiercely, and as Dick
advanced upon him he thrust the lighted candle full into the
youth's face. Of course Dick had to fall back, not wishing to be
burnt, and a second later the candle went out leaving the room in
total darkness.
But now Tom sprang forward, bearing Crabtree to the floor. Over
and over rolled the pair, upsetting first a chair and then a small
table.
At the sound of the row Dora Stanhope began to scream, fearing one
of her friends might be killed, and presently Mrs. Stanhope joined
in. But the cottage was situated too far away for any outsiders to
hear, so the boys had to fight the battle alone.
At length Josiah Crabtree pulled himself clear of Tom's hold and
made for the open window. But now Dick had recovered and he hurled
the man backward.
The movement kept Crabtree in the room, but it was disastrous to
Tom, for as the former teacher fell back his heel was planted on
Tom's forehead, and for the time being the younger Rover lay
stunned and unable to continue the contest.
Finding himself unable to escape by the window, Josiah Crabtree
felt his way to the door and ran out into the hall. Because of his
former visits to the house he knew the ground plan well, and from
the hall he darted into the parlor and then into the sitting room.
Dick tried to catch him, and once caught his arm. But Crabtree
broke loose and placed a large center table between them.
"Don't dare to stop me, Rover," hissed the man desperately. "If
you do you will be sorry. I am armed."
"So am I armed, Josiah Crabtree. And I call upon you to
surrender."
"What, you would shoot me!" cried the former teacher, in terror.
"Why not? Didn't you try to take my life in Africa?"
"I repeat, you are mistaken."
"I am not mistaken, and can prove my assertion by half a dozen
persons."
"I have not been near Africa."
"I won't argue the point with you. Do you surrender or not?"
"Yes, I will surrender," replied Josiah Crabtree meekly.
Yet he did not mean what he said, and as Dick came closer he gave
the lad a violent shove backward, which made the elder Rover boy
sit down in an easy chair rather suddenly. Then he darted into a
small conservatory attached to the sitting room.
"Stop!" panted Dick, catching his breath.
"Tom, he is running away!"
Crash! jingle! jingle! jingle! Josiah Crabtree had tried the door
to the conservatory and finding it locked and the key gone, had
smashed out some of the glass and leaped through the opening thus
afforded.
By this time Dora was coming downstairs, clad in a wrapper and
carrying a lamp in her hand. The first person she met was Tom, who
staggered into the hall with his hand to his bruised forehead.
"Oh, Tom, are you hurt?" she shrieked.
"Not much," he answered. But Dick--Dick, where are you?"
"Here, in the conservatory. Crabtree just jumped through the
glass!"
Dora ran into the little apartment, which Mrs. Stanhope had just
begun to fill with flowers for the coming winter. Tom came behind
her, carrying a poker he had picked up.
"Is he out of sight?" asked Tom.
"Yes, confound the luck," replied his brother. "Which way did he
go?"
"I don't know."
"We ought to follow him."
"We will." Dick turned to Dora. "After we are gone you had better
lock up better than ever, and remain on guard until morning."
"I will, Dick," she answered.
The key to the conservatory door was hanging on a nearby nail, and
taking it down they unlocked the door, and the two boys passed into
the darkness of the night outside.
"Please take care of yourselves!" cried Dora after them, and then
turned to quiet her mother, who had come downstairs in a state of
excitement bordering on hysteria, for, as old readers know, Mrs.
Stanhope's constitution was a delicate one.
Running into the garden, Dick made out a dim form in the distance,
on the path leading to the lake.
"There he is!" he cried. "Come, Tom, we must catch him, if we
can!"
"I am with you," answered Tom. "But take care what you do. He may
be in a desperate frame of mind."
"He is desperate. But I am not afraid of him," returned the elder
Rover, with determination.
Josiah Crabtree was running with all the speed of his long legs,
and the two lads soon found that they had all they could do to keep
him in sight.
"Stop!" yelled Tom, at the top of his voice, but to this command
the former, teacher paid no attention. If anything, he ran the
faster.
"He is bound for the lake," said Dick. "He must have a boat."
But Dick was mistaken, for just before the water came into view
Josiah Crabtree branched off onto the road leading into Cedarville.
Then of a sudden the shadows of a patch of woods hid him from view.
"He's gone!" came from Tom, as he slackened his speed.
"He didn't turn down to the lake."
"That's so. He must have gone toward Cedarville."
The Rover boys came to a halt and looked about them searchingly.
On one side of the road lay a tilled field, on the other were rocks
and trees and bushes. They listened intently, but only the
occasional cry of a night bird broke the stillness.
"We are stumped!" groaned Dick dismally.
"What, you aren't going to give up the hunt already, are you?"
demanded Tom.
"No, but where did he go?"
"Perhaps he went back to the house."
"I don't believe he would dare to do that. Besides, what would he
go for?"
"What made him go in the first place?"
"I am sure I don't know. Perhaps he was going to abduct Dora -- or
Mrs. Stanhope."
"If he was going to do that alone, he would have had his hands
full."
The two boys advanced, but with great caution. They peered into
the woods and behind some of the larger rocks, but discovered
nothing.
"That is the second time we have lost our game to-day," remarked
Tom soberly. "First it was Dan Baxter or somebody else, and now it
is Josiah Crabtree."
"It must have been Baxter who tried to wreck the stage. He and old
Crabtree always did hang together."
"If they are stopping anywhere in Cedarville we ought to put the
police on their track."
"I'll do that sure. We can easily hold both on half a dozen
charges -- if we can catch them."
CHAPTER VI
AN INTERESTING LETTER
But to catch Josiah Crabtree was not easy. The former teacher of
Putnam Hall was thoroughly alarmed, and once having taken to the
woods, he plunged in deeper and deeper, until to find him would
have been almost an impossibility. Indeed, he completely lost
himself, and when the boys had left the vicinity he found himself
unable to locate the road again, and so had to remain in the cold
and damp woods all night, much to his discomfort. He could not
keep warm, and sat chattering on a rock until daylight.
Finding it of no use to continue the search, Dick and Tom retraced
their steps to the Stanhope homestead. They found Dora on guard,
with every window and door either locked or nailed up. The girl
had persuaded her feeble mother to lie down again, but Mrs.
Stanhope was still too excited to rest comfortably.
"Did you catch him?" Dora asked anxiously, after she had admitted
them.
"No, he got away in the darkness," answered Dick.
"It is too bad. What do you suppose he was up to?"
"That is what we would like to find out, Dora. Certainly he was up
to no good."
"Perhaps he wished to rob us."
"He must know that you do not keep much money in the house."
"Day before yesterday mother had me draw four hundred dollars out
of the bank, to pay for the new barn we have had built. The
carpenter, however, went to Ithaca on business, so as yet we have
not been able to pay him the money."
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